Pet Shop Boys, ‘Electric’

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Aidin Vaziri | There was a sense that the fun was fading for Pet Shop Boys on their previous album, the thoroughly dour “Elysium.” So what a relief it is to hear the British synth-pop duo back in arch form less than a year later on its 12th studio recording, “Electric.” Produced by Stuart Price and released on the band’s x2 label, it’s a joyous throwback to their mid-’80s heyday, when their songs dominated dance club play lists. Chris Lowe’s twinkling keyboards and Neil Tennant’s icy vocals are back at the fore on tracks such as “Love Is a Bourgeois Construct” and “Inside a Dream,” while they magically bring the sun-streaked sound of the rave era back to life with the celebratory closing track, “Vocal” – a dizzying dance-floor romp that finds the 59-year-old singer intoning, “This is my kind of music/ They play it all night long.”